Soda PDF

What is SodaPDF app?

SodaPDF is a native desktop app for PC with a capable web version available under the same subscription. The online version is accessible from any device. It has many features which will be useful to teachers and students:

• Create PDFs from many different file formats

• Convert to or from PDF

• Edit PDFs, including their text, images and layout

• Split multi-page PDFs into smaller documents

• Join multiple PDFs into a single document

• Watermark documents

• Create forms with input fields

This review of SodaPDF used the downloadable Windows app and the online SodaPDF tools as part of a SodaPDF subscription.

What we love about SodaPDF app

SodaPDF is not a recent appearance in the PDF editing app category. It has long provided a cost-effective alternative to Adobe products and other document apps and is now on its fourteenth major version.

This evolution and continued development are apparent in the app's polish and compatibility. PDF editors shouldn't be challenging to use. When we open them, we have a task in mind, whether converting, compiling or adjusting our documents and we want to get straight to it.

SodaPDF's toolset makes it easy to choose the right options to accomplish your desired results. 

Of course, the reason we use PDFs is to be sure that any recipient can read them, whatever device they have. Teachers don't want to find kids can't do their homework because they can't open the supporting resources provided on an LMS. Our tests during this review of SodaPDF did not expose any incompatibility issues with its output PDFs when opened in various common PDF reader apps.

What skills does it teach?

SodaPDF is a valuable tool for teachers to create and edit lesson resources and administration materials. Kids might also find it useful to make their work sharable with classmates, hand it in, or send a copy of their best work to family members.

While it supports teaching and learning, SodaPDF does not directly teach any skills or knowledge.

What age is it appropriate for?

As a PDF editing app, SodaPDF Pro 360 is suitable for anybody old enough to need its features and use its tools. These are likely to be parents and teachers, but older kids may also find it useful, and adults can support younger kids if they need to convert or edit their PDF-based work.

Is SodaPDF app easy to use?

SodaPDF has been available for a long time and has progressed through many versions before reaching SodaPDF. This longevity has allowed the app to build its feature set and polish its usability to perfection. Making use of all of the features in SodaPDF is easy and intuitive.

Should you need support, the app's website has a comprehensive knowledge-base section and a live-chat customer service option for subscribers.

How will students benefit?

If kids want to use a document or prepare one as part of their school work, the process must be as friction-free as possible. Time spent wrestling with document compatibilities or getting work to look right will result in frustration or kids not producing assignments to the best of their ability.

SodaPDF makes the process as smooth as possible, and kids can use the tools whether working at home, at a friend's house, in a library or at school through the web app.

How will parents benefit?

When kids search for free tools to work with PDFs, there is always a risk of encountering inappropriate content or apps containing malware. If kids have an effective, feature-rich and safe app like SodaPDF, they won't risk putting family computers in jeopardy of viruses and other security risks.

How will teachers benefit?

Once, paperwork determined the smooth flow of a teacher's professional life, but now their documents are more likely to be digital. Worksheets and learning aids must be accessible by kids and compatible with learning management systems. Lesson plans need to be shared with colleagues, and data and statistics presented to school management.

PDF is the typical format for all of these needs, and SodaPDF makes it easy and quick to use.

Microsoft Office is also popular among teachers, and SodaPDF claims to be the fastest PDF to Microsoft Office converter on the market (SodaPDF's publisher is a Microsoft Silver Partner). This review of SodaPDF did not test the comparative claims but can confirm that it feels speedy while producing excellent results.

A downloadable app co-existing with a web app gives teachers the best of both worlds. They can enjoy quicker processing and every available feature on their desktop machines. At the same time, the online converter adds the flexibility for teachers to edit and convert PDFs on every device. The app enables collaborative work with its sticky notes and comment features.

What can SodaPDF app improve on?

When you click on the 'Buy Now' button for SodaPDF, a couple of add-on purchases are already selected, adding about 50% to the purchase price. These options give you extended device access and e-signing features. These are useful if you need them.

We prefer SodaPDF's buying process to make you aware of the options but not automatically opt you in. If you don't need them, remember to uncheck the boxes.

Far from unique to SodaPDF, but still something we don't like to see is that when you install the app, it has the option to install a third-party virus checker already selected. You can decline this option, but it is easy to miss and find yourself needing to uninstall a virus checker you did not want.

How much does SodaPDF app cost?

A SodaPDF subscription has a comparable feature set to Adobe Acrobat Pro. At the time of this review, SodaPDF costs about one-third of the Adobe subscription. An offer exists at this time which discounts the Pro version to the same price as the standard version. For the duration of this offer, the standard version is unavailable as the Pro version offers all of its features and many more.

The site does not indicate when this offer might end. SodaPDF has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Is SodaPDF app safe to use?

There is nothing inappropriate in SodaPDF.

SodaPDF indicates it has robust security, but everyone should always consider the implication of uploading documents for cloud storage or processing in all of their apps. Teachers should be particularly mindful of their school's policies if the documents contain student data.

Overall rating of the app.

During this review, we found SodaPDF a capable and efficient PDF editor. We did not notice any absent features compared to competing apps, and it consistently produced excellent results.

A robust PDF editor is an essential tool for teachers and many students. We highly recommend testing SodaPDF before deciding on any other PDF editing app.